Scott Brewster said the closure of Butte's nursing home last month surprised him.
“They're 300-resident villagers,” said Brewster, president of Boyd County's 300-resident village.
The closure was a blow to the village, but it was also personal for Brewster.
His stepfather was a resident of the facility and when it was closed he had to move to another facility two and a half hours away. He passed away just a week after moving in.
With the closure of Butte's senior living, Boyd County became Nebraska's 22nd county and had no nursing homes.
Butte officials hope to reopen the center, but they are being hampered by Nebraska's Don't Need Act certificates.
The law aims to prevent overbuilding of medical facilities by essentially having owners consider new facilities by either trying to expand existing facilities or by attempting to build new facilities that show that additional beds are needed.
Butte is not trying to do it either, but officials have to “buy” extra capacity from elsewhere in the state as the owner who closed the facility refuses to sell to the village.
“What the necessary certificates are doing for us is that there are no beds associated with that nursing home and we don't allow it to resume,” Brewster said. “And you need to buy those beds.”
Brewster said the village was encouraged not to reopen the house. Despite the advice, he said officials wanted to provide local places to their aged residents so that their families can continue to see them.
The nearest nursing home is crossed the South Dakota border, nearly 30 minutes away.
“The only thing we want to do is break down,” Brewster said. “We also recognize that we may not be able to break either, and we are trying to prepare ourselves and put ourselves in a position that can withstand those losses. In the future, this will require the right business organization.
But there is hope.
The proposed bill, introduced by Senator Merv Riepe of Ralston, LB437, will abolish state need requirements certificates that have been made by dozens of other states.
The bill has advanced from the committee, but it is not clear whether it's this year or not, as it has not been discussed by the full Congress yet.
At that committee hearing in March, Riepe called the certificate of need “in theory.”
“But in reality, it's destructive,” he said.
Brewster agrees.
“Certificates of needs are harmful to Nebraska and not necessarily Omaha, Lincoln. That's where the population is,” he said. “But we need a repealed certificate for the rest of us in Nebraska.”
